Thursday, December 21, 2006

Packer Gameday: Minnesota Vikings (6-8) at Green Bay Packers (6-8)

NFL Network! Who doesn't love the NFL Network? Okay, I love the NFL and I'm not even into the network. I'm sure it'll come in handy down the road when I'm writing for three straight weeks about who the Packers will draft but for now it's kinda, well, dry.

Bryant Gumbel (ironically rhymes with "humble") and Cris Collinsworth in the booth. I'm not a fan of Gumbel because he sometimes acts like sports are beneath him and yet that's what he does for a living. No one likes that sort of attitude. Collinsworth is okay so long as he isn't trying to be the anti-Madden. No need to rip on Favre just because Big John wants to dryhump him. Settle down.

People are talking about this being Favre's last home game. I don't think it is but either way I'm putting this one on DVD for safekeeping.

1st Quarter

13:30 - Three and out for the Vikings on their first drive. Tarvaris Jackson doesn't look terrible but he doesn't make a huge impression either.

9:13 - The Packers drive down to the 15 or so and Ahman gets hit early on third down. That's the second pass interference call so far that WASN'T called. Dangit. Rayner from 38. GREEN BAY 3 - MINNESOTA 0.

7:32 - Third down for the Vikings again. Kampman and Al Harris combine on the sack of the rookie. TJack looked hesitant there. Another three and out for the Vikes. What's the over/under on that for their offense tonight? I'm going with 37 and taking the under.

6:15 - Gumbel: "That's a lot of man." He's talking about Pat Williams of the Vikings. He's right. Still, that's just ishy.

5:38 - Carlyle Holiday takes the reverse and throws a pass to a double covered Jennings. I like the idea. Former QB and all, but he's got to make better decisions than that. That last sentence applies to all Green Bay qb's by the way.

3:30 - Treeeemendous sequence. Bubba drops a catch to force 4th down and then Dave Rayner flops down on the Figgie attempt and gets it blocked.

3:18 - Troy Williamson drops a bomb when he's wide open. He sucks.

2nd Quarter

14:14 - Okay, Bubba's got 2 drops and a fumble tonight. Thankfully Napoleon Harris, with no one around for 5 yards, rushed over and stepped out of bounds before picking up the ball. We need a new Tight End. I love ya Bubba, but this is an all-year thing now.

11:29 -
Packers move the ball efficiently again. Rayner hits the left upright from 38. We should be up 9-0 at worst. We are not. Ugh.

10:00 - Well it's not technically a three and out for the Vikings cuz they mixed a hold penalty in there but yeah, it's a four and out. This may effect my bet.

6:00 - BPopp stopped TJack a yard short of the 1st down. I'd like to think that when historians look back on the "first initial, first syllable of last name phenomenon" this sentence will commemorate the end of it.

4:14 - On third and 2 the yellow line disappears. Ahman should have the first. I think. I don't really know and I'm a little scared right now without my yellow line.

1:46 - Jarrett Bush muffs the punt at the 5 and knocks it in for a touchback on the coverage. That was uglier than a Gumble brother sandwich.

:04 - Rayner hits a Figgie from 44. Woohoo. GREEN BAY 6 - MINNESOTA 0.

3rd Quarter

13:24 - Don Driver runs off to the locker room. He's dragging his right arm. Sooooo we've got Jennings, Ruvell and Carlyle out there. 100% awesome.

9:07 - Chuck picks off Tarvaris on the GB 20 and throws in a 20 yard return just for the Pro Bowl voters who overlooked him. Stopped a threat too.

5:10 - Jennings never turns around and Smoot picks Favre off. He returns it for a TD just so the Pro Bowl voters remember that he's in the league and technically still has a pulse. The fans reject his attempt at the Lambeau Leap. Beautiful. Well done my friends. Well done. GREEN BAY 6 - MINNESOTA 7.

4:57 - Favre and Jennings again are not on the same page. Another pick. WTF? This Vikings team is awful and we should be up by 25 by now. Settle down and win this stupid, ugly game!

4:07 - The D comes up with another huge three and out. I know they're playing a rookie qb in his first start but the D has been huge tonight. Truly impressive.

2:22 - The Packers run it 5 straight times on this Vikings defense. Back to back picks will do that will it not?

:22 - Another pass interference call NOT made. Look, I hate the pass interference call. Hate it. But that's what the league is going with and they're not calling it. If I wasn't conditioned for this sort of thing I wouldn't have an issue. But no one gets to grab DD unless it's me in an overly awkward manhug. That's just the deal.

4th Quarter

13:47 - Yet another three and out by the defense. Say what you want about the competition but they're pitching a shutout.

10:16 - On third and 13 Napoleon Harris roughs the passer. He also stepped out on the fumble recovery that wasn't earlier. He's running neck and neck with Bubba for "guy who got bribed by the other team to throw the game" honors.

8:32 - Bubba makes the catch, gets the first down, and then fumbles the fucking ball at the three yard line! Gah! You've made me swear and I'm trying to keep this place clean, y'know... for the kids. Dangit Bubba. He clearly didn't like the idea of Nap Harris stealing his award tonight.

5:24 - Nick Collins makes a huge tackle on Tarvaris to force a punt. Seriously, this D is just impressive tonight. I'm trying to enjoy it, it's been a long time since I've gotten to see this sort of thing. I mean, other than watching Chargers games on the Sunday Ticket.

3:55 - The Vikes show blitz and Favre changes the play. Ruvell Martin down the right sideline for 36 and a huge first down to the Minnesota 30 or so.

1:52 - On third and 17 from the 34 or so, Ahman takes a screen to the 5 for a gigantic first down. But Bubba was caught for a hold down the field. Where is his head tonight? I love the guy but what is going on? After the penalty it'll be third and 13 or so from the 28.

1:46 - Noah Herron carries for 2 yards. Set up the Figgie. Do we really want to rely that much on a kick when our boy's already slipped once tonight?

1:38 - Of course we do! Rayner drills it from 44! That's his first big time kick I think for this team. Shine on you crazy diamond! I have officially used my quota for exclamation points for the week! The only way I can use anymore is if I barter with a 13 year old girl for some of hers, they stockpile those things like nobody's business. GREEN BAY 9 - MINNESOTA 7.

1:20 - Kampman comes up with his third sack tonight. It's almost like the Vikings have a rookie qb out there or something.

1:13 - Nick Barnett sniffs out a screen and wraps Mewelde Moore for the loss. Third and 18 coming up.

:42 - Barnett and Collins come up and tackle Jackson on a scramble. They stop him five yards short of the first down and keep him in bounds. Nah, they wouldn't have a rookie from a 1-AA school playing his first game would they? Seriously?

:20 - Tarvaris overthrows Billy McMullen on 4th down. Collins broke up the pass. Game over.

FINAL SCORE: GREEN BAY 9 - MINNESOTA 7.

Wow. This Packer team has won back to back games without throwing out their best effort on offense. The defense has actually played solid to great for three straight weeks now. I know the competition isn't great but hey, early in the year they weren't playing at this level so I'll take it.

I just heard that they held the Vikings to 3 first downs on the night. That's just rigoddamndiculous. Most entertaining part of the night? The many, many variations of Tarvaris Jackson. Collinsworth called him "Tavaris Tillman". Marshall Faulk in the postgame called him "Tavarius Johnson". And of course I've heard it a few other times for uncredited sources. I like that the uniqueness of his first name just ruins any chance of remembering his last name. That's all I gots. I'm going to bed.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

bubba almost singlehandedly gave that game away last night. i hate kicking a guy when he's down but wow. that was one of the worst performances by a decent player i've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

Jennings was pretty craptacular too, but I'll give him more slack because he's a rookie, plus really hasn't been the same since he got hurt early on this year.

That said, the defense has given something to be excited about these last few weeks. The D-line alone has an impressive season sack total and have the makings of something special.

Packman said...

The defense was amazing. That was a huge win for the Pack, let's just hope Favre can toss 8 touchdowns next week to break the record. And I also wanna give a shout out to all the Viking fans out there...Moss, where you at?

Anonymous said...

Anybody pick up childress' comments where he talked about the Vikings' "Kick Ass" offense??

He really IS right, it's been kicking the Vikes' asses all year !!!!

HA!!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night !!